Here is a recent case of Dr. Schultz’s. 35 year old female with neck pain for 18 months. Symptoms described as numbness and constant tingling traveling down both arms and into her left hand. She also has noted a general decrease of strength throughout her arms during the last 12 months. This was relatively confusing for her as she had done physical therapy for 8 months to help build strength. Unfortunately, stories like this are all too common when asked about previous treatments or therapies.

What was missed?

A 35 year old female should respond favorably to physical therapy. What went wrong? This patient had a history of chronic neck pain that ultimately led to her getting a MRI. The MRI reported cervical disc protrusion, spinal stenosis, foraminal stenosis, and bone spurs. (See MRI below)

What was missed was the severity of the damage in her neck and the lack of correlation to her symptoms. When asked about previous treatments/therapy she said there was a lot of strengthening in her arms because that is where she noticed the weakness. Even, with the MRI showing a massive disc injury and early signs of joint degeneration.

What was different?

When she presented to our office after 1 year of PT with minimal results she wanted answers that she desperately deserved. Previous providers had not communicated to her the severity of her neck and how that correlates to her arm and hand symptoms.

There were also massive amounts of soft-tissue adhesion sticking nerves and muscles together throughout her neck and traveling into her arms. Fortunately, for her finding and fixing adhesion can be done through detailed assessments and expert treatment. Reducing adhesion allowed for the damaged parts of her neck to be in a safe, healing environment. She got her quality of life back! She continues to get her adhesion treated every 2 months to ensure that she can live a happy, pain free life and do the things she loves!